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Gavin B. · 07-24-2009, 09:35 AM

I've always disliked the term "shoegaze." It really doesn't tell me a thing about a band's musical oeuvre. I first heard shoegaze used to refer to the Cocteau Twins, and subsequently bands like Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain were also called shoegazers.

My question is what do those bands have in common with the Cocteau Twins or with each other?

The term shoegaze fell into musical venacular in the UK, and was a negative term to describe a band with a lethargic or lackidasical stage presence. Shoegaze was a derogatory comment about a band's lack of charisma and stage prescence.

Shoegaze was then appropriated by the music industry in the early Nineties and it's meaning was reshaped into music industry A&R tag with an entirely different meaning.

Shoegaze became a hip signifer used by music producers to describe a langorous je ne sais quo quality of apathy that was part of a band's mystique. It had nothing to do with the kind of music the band played. Shoegaze evolved into contrived A&R tool used to sell more units of the artist's latest musical product.

Gazing at your own shoes at performances made your band seem dark and mysterious, instead of lazy and disenaged. That was the revisionist definition of shoegaze, supplied with a smile by the fast talkin' A&R bagmen at Sony and Time Warner.

This proliferation of genre tagging has really gotten out of hand and the total number of subgenres is threatening to exceed the total number of bands. So many genres, yet so little time for an old school music fan like me to figure out the right subgenre to assign Gogol's Bordello to.

I'm still trying to figure out what subgenres like queencore, C-86, obscuro, darkwave and freakbeat are all about.

It's getting harder and harder for me to drop the names of the right bands or bore my friends with a 2 hour monologue on latest music trends, if I'm not up to speed on the psychosocial signifiance of queercore music.

I won't be able to show up at my job or go grocery shopping until I have a clear fix on the exact definition of the screamo subgenre. Were Howling Wolf and Screamin' Jay Hawkins influenced by screamo? Is there such a thing as screamo delta blues?

In my world, a music fan has way too much time on his hands if he's able to recite the names of ten bands that belong to the Shibuya-Kei subgenre of rock and roll, in under a minute.

Every 15 minutes a horrifying new musical subgenre is created by music corporation warlords of this nation. Each year thousands of American are losing their lives to genre overkill. It's time for the American public to rise up, put on their Doctor Marten boots and stomp out this meaningless linguistic virus from hell.

One last question: Have I gone off topic?

07-24-2009, 09:35 AM	#88 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	I've always disliked the term "shoegaze." It really doesn't tell me a thing about a band's musical oeuvre. I first heard shoegaze used to refer to the Cocteau Twins, and subsequently bands like Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain were also called shoegazers. My question is what do those bands have in common with the Cocteau Twins or with each other? The term shoegaze fell into musical venacular in the UK, and was a negative term to describe a band with a lethargic or lackidasical stage presence. Shoegaze was a derogatory comment about a band's lack of charisma and stage prescence. Shoegaze was then appropriated by the music industry in the early Nineties and it's meaning was reshaped into music industry A&R tag with an entirely different meaning. Shoegaze became a hip signifer used by music producers to describe a langorous je ne sais quo quality of apathy that was part of a band's mystique. It had nothing to do with the kind of music the band played. Shoegaze evolved into contrived A&R tool used to sell more units of the artist's latest musical product. Gazing at your own shoes at performances made your band seem dark and mysterious, instead of lazy and disenaged. That was the revisionist definition of shoegaze, supplied with a smile by the fast talkin' A&R bagmen at Sony and Time Warner. This proliferation of genre tagging has really gotten out of hand and the total number of subgenres is threatening to exceed the total number of bands. So many genres, yet so little time for an old school music fan like me to figure out the right subgenre to assign Gogol's Bordello to. I'm still trying to figure out what subgenres like queencore, C-86, obscuro, darkwave and freakbeat are all about. It's getting harder and harder for me to drop the names of the right bands or bore my friends with a 2 hour monologue on latest music trends, if I'm not up to speed on the psychosocial signifiance of queercore music. I won't be able to show up at my job or go grocery shopping until I have a clear fix on the exact definition of the screamo subgenre. Were Howling Wolf and Screamin' Jay Hawkins influenced by screamo? Is there such a thing as screamo delta blues? In my world, a music fan has way too much time on his hands if he's able to recite the names of ten bands that belong to the Shibuya-Kei subgenre of rock and roll, in under a minute. Every 15 minutes a horrifying new musical subgenre is created by music corporation warlords of this nation. Each year thousands of American are losing their lives to genre overkill. It's time for the American public to rise up, put on their Doctor Marten boots and stomp out this meaningless linguistic virus from hell. One last question: Have I gone off topic? __________________ There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff. Townes Van Zandt Last edited by Gavin B.; 07-24-2009 at 09:50 AM.